Righteousness Through Faith or Signs?
Sermon Transcript by Rev. Ernest O’Neill
Some of us aren’t really absolutely sure of God’s existence this morning, I know that. And some of
us aren’t sure why we have a problem with anxiety or restlessness. But there are many of us here
this morning who do know that the reason for the restlessness and the anxiety that we have is
because we aren’t sure of our Creator’s approval. And really it’s because we’re not sure whether
we’re right with him or not, and we don’t quite know how to get right with him.
Now that’s what righteousness means. Righteousness means being right with our Creator, or it means
getting right with him. I think many of us have mistaken it for morality. It isn’t morality first
and foremost; it is being right with our Creator. It’s like an ordinary relationship between you
and your girlfriend, or you and your boyfriend. It’s just an unclouded communication between the
pair of you, and there’s no shadow in your relationship. You are absolutely at home with each
other. That’s what righteousness means. It means being absolutely right with God, having no doubt
of him and him having no doubt of you.
Now many people, including Satan, have tried to change it into morality. Now, you remember that
happened in Genesis 3:5 if you look at it for a moment. Genesis 3:5, you remember, Satan suggested,
“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil.” And ever from that time many people have been suggesting to us that righteousness
is knowing the difference between good and evil and it’s being good and avoiding evil.
Now, that isn’t righteousness brothers and sisters, that’s morality. And that results usually from
receiving the righteousness of God and being right with God. So normally, morality results from
being right with God. But being right with God itself is not involved in morality. It is concerned
with having an unclouded relationship between ourselves and God. I think a lot of us this morning
may say, “Well now Pastor there’s really a good reason for us thinking that righteousness is being
moral, because you know the whole testament is filled with, ‘Thou shall not steal, thou shall not
kill, thou shall not bear false witness.’ And no wonder so many of us think that righteousness is
being right with God.”
Yes brothers and sisters, I think that is true but God has never changed from the very first man
that he made right with himself. And he did not make that man right with himself through morality.
God has never changed. People have misused the law and tried to contort us into all kinds of golden
rules, and doing good to your neighbor, and being good enough so that God will accept you, but that
was never God’s basis for getting right with himself from the beginning of creation. God has never
changed he has maintained the same system for getting people right with himself right down the
years.
Now what is that system? Well, it’s the one you remember he used with the man whom we often regard
as the father of legalism and the father of law, Abraham. Abraham didn’t get right with God because
he was good enough to be accepted by God. He got right with God by another means. You can find it
there, Genesis 15:4-6. We have read it before. Genesis 15:4, “And behold, the word of the Lord
came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir.’ And he brought him
outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then
he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him
as righteousness.”

Now ever from the beginning of creation that has always been God’s way of making us right with
himself. Whenever he found a man or a woman who believed him, who believed that he was the God of
the universe, that he was a loving father, that he didn’t hate us, that he really did love us and
wanted to be close to us — every time a man or a woman believed God and acted upon that belief, God
made that man or woman right with himself. He gave them righteousness; he made them right with
himself. And that’s always been God’s way.
I think a lot of us really get caught up because we say, “Well, wouldn’t this mean that all men
ought to become Jews? We all ought to become like Abraham? We all ought to become Jews. We all
ought to do the same kinds of things as the Jews did.” And you remember what that was if you’d like
to look at it in Genesis 17. It certainly includes at least that physical sign that they put on
their bodies. It’s Genesis 17:9-10, “And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my
covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant,
which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall
be circumcised.’” And then in Verse 12, “He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised;
every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house, or bought with your money from
any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he that is born in your house and he that is bought
with your money, shall be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting
covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut
off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
And many of us say, “Well, shouldn’t we make sure that we have that cutting in our body, and that
would enable us to be right with God?” Now brothers and sisters when was Abraham made right with
God, before he was circumcised or after he was circumcised? And you know the answer. You actually
turn back [meaning the event in Gen. 15:6 took place before that in Gen. 17] in the Bible to get to
Genesis 15:6 and read, “And he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
In other words, you don’t need to become a Jew. You don’t need to cut your body to be right with
God. You are right with God the moment you believe that God is your loving Father, and that he
really does love you, and that you can trust him. And then you act on that in your own life. And
you no longer fear, and worry, and are anxious but you trust that God is in charge of you as he is
in charge of the sparrow. And that makes you right with God. As a result of that your life
naturally becomes more like his. But that’s the way you get right with him.
You may say, “Well alright Pastor but where does the circumcision come in? What’s the purpose of
circumcision?” And you can see it there in Genesis 17:11. “You shall be circumcised in the flesh
of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.” It was just a sign.
It didn’t cause faith, it didn’t create righteousness. It was a sign of the righteousness that
Abram already had because he believed God. It was like the covenant God made with Noah. God made a
covenant with him, “I’ll never again wipe out the earth with a flood, and I’ll put a sign in the
heavens, a rainbow. And whenever you see that sign you’ll remember the covenant that I made with
you. But I made it with you out of sheer grace. The rainbow didn’t make me make it with you. I
made it because I loved you and I want you to trust me.” So it is with circumcision.
Now brothers and sisters, you may say, “Well, I mean, thank goodness there is no way in which we
could pervert that sign.” And there was no way in which the Jews could pervert it. But brothers
and sisters, the Jews ‘did’ pervert the sign. The Jews took the sign and regarded it as more
important than the inward faith. And you’ll see that if you look at Acts 15:1. They had a whole

discussion and a whole disagreement in the early church over this silly sign. Acts 15:1, “But some
men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to
the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’”
Now we would say, “That is ridiculous.” How could they take what is purely an outward sign and make
it the very qualification for being accepted by God. And look in verse 5, “But some believers who
belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up, and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and
to charge them to keep the Law of Moses.’” And you see that this wasn’t God’s plan at all.
The verses that we’re studying today make that clear. If you want to look at them they’re Romans 4.
And it was plain that this wasn’t the way God wanted people to misuse the sign. Romans 4:9, “Is
this blessing,” that of being right with God, “Pronounced only upon the circumcised, or also upon
the uncircumcised? We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it
reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he
was circumcised. He received circumcision as a sign or seal of righteousness which he had by faith
while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without
being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the father of the
circumcised who are not merely circumcised but also follow the example of the faith which our father
Abraham had before he was circumcised.”
Yet in spite of all this the early church came along and said, “No, you need the sign. It doesn’t
matter if you believe in Jesus, it doesn’t matter if you believe God has forgiven you, it doesn’t
matter if you believe that you can trust him as your Father, you need the sign. Otherwise, you
can’t be accepted by him.” And do you see brothers and sisters how ridiculous that was? The sign
was only a sign of a relationship that already existed. In other words, Abraham was only
circumcised because he was already right with God. And of course, you know, we say, “Well, that’s
interesting but really it has very little to do with us today. We would never make that kind of
mistake.”
Well, would you look at 1 Corinthians 1 and see the first miserable little bickering church?
Really, it’s incredible how foolish we men can be. 1 Corinthians 1:11-13, “For it has been reported
to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren.” Maybe they’re quarreling
over whether Jesus has risen from the dead, or whether God is the loving Father? Something big!
“What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I
belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or
were you baptized in the name of Paul? I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and
Gaius; lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name.” And the miserable church was
beginning to fall out over a sign.
And we say, “I’m glad we don’t do that.” And you know it. “Well, I was baptized, and I was
confirmed, and I was received into membership therefore, it doesn’t matter whether I experienced any
conviction of sin in my life. It doesn’t matter whether I ever repented of my sins. It doesn’t
matter whether I ever gave my life to Jesus. I’ve received the sign, so I’m a child of God.” And
brothers and sisters, you know so many of us labor under that. We make the sign of baptism the very
basis of our righteousness with God when it isn’t at all. It is a sign of something that has
already happened to us.
In other words, you can only be baptized into a state in which you already are, as Abraham was
circumcised because of a relationship that he already had with the Father. And you know that some

of us well, we don’t say that but we say, “Yeah, that’s right. That’s right, that kind of thing is
stupid and naïve. That’s not the important thing, that you’re baptized and confirmed, it’s that
you’re baptized as an infant. That’s the vital thing. If you’re baptized as an infant you’re a
child of God.” And you feel you know, at least the Jews only misused the sign but here we are we
tear apart the body of Christ on how we administer the sign. And then somebody comes along and
says, “Yeah, that’s stupid. Boy it’s not baptism as an infant that’s a nothing.” And we say, “Ah,
good somebody with sense at last.” And they say, “Yeah, you must be baptized as an adult, that’s
the vital thing. And you must be baptized in a certain way as an adult.” And we say, “Really?
That’s senseless that we fall out over the sign.” And then some person comes along and says, “Yeah,
it’s vital you mustn’t pour the water on, you mustn’t immerse them, you must just sprinkle them.”
And then another group says, “No, you mustn’t sprinkle them you must pour the water over their head
when they’re three months old.” “No, that’s madness you must immerse them when they’re at the age
of discretion.”
Now brothers and sisters do you see? Ah the Father must look down upon us – we’ll deal with the
issues in a moment, but do you see the Father must look down upon us and say, “Well, the Jews I
thought were bad, but at least they agreed on how to circumcise.” So loved ones, do you see that
we’re in danger here. We’re in danger of making the sign the cause of our relationship with God
when it is not. It just isn’t.
Now you may say, “Now Pastor, alright, but we don’t want to just laugh at the thing. Is it really
as unimportant as you are implying? Is there not clear scriptural direction about baptism?” And
yeah, brothers and sisters, I think really it is not as important as we make it. I think for
instance the scriptural attitude is there in 1 Corinthians 1:14. I think the attitude of an apostle
to this is found there in Verse 14, “I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and
Gaius; lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household
of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any one else.)” I think that is the
attitude of a mature apostle to baptism, that baptism is not the big deal. Baptism is a sign and
there is something more important than baptism.
But, let us look at some of the scriptural teaching about it. I think we find some of it there in
Acts 2:38. Acts 2:38, “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized.’” There’s an order of
events; the Bible tells us that. There’s an order of events in connection with a sign. The inward
attitude of trust to the Father must be there, otherwise, there’s no point in giving any sign. The
sign won’t create the faith. The inward attitude of the heart is what is important, and it must
come first.
Now you get it again in Acts 8:12. “But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the
kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” And you see
the adverbial clause of time, “When they believed Philip,” then they were baptized. So, there is an
order of events. The inward experience must be there otherwise, baptism is just a mockery.
Now, maybe we should look at what that inward experience should be. And you see it there in Acts
10:44 and 48. Acts 10:44-48, “While Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who
heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed,
because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them
speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, ‘Can any one forbid water for baptizing
these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ And he commanded them to be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.” The inward

experience, and trust, and reception of the Holy Spirit must be there. We must be born of the
Spirit before we can be baptized and before baptism means anything.
Now some of you may say, “Well, brother, what about the mode and the time? Is there no direction in
scripture about the mode of baptism?” Well you see, many brothers and sisters here this morning
would say, “Yes, there is.” So let’s look at this piece in scripture that points to that. It’s
Acts 8:38, “And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and
the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord
caught up Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.” It does seem that
often in the New Testament people went down into the water and probably most of them experienced it
the way Jesus did and was right immersed in the water and that signified for them the burial with
Christ.
There are many people that became Christians without being immersed in water. For one thing, it was
a real practical problem with the amount of water around Jerusalem when you were baptizing 3,000
people. So let’s be sensible about it. Let’s say, “Yes, it does seem on reading that it is
believers who are baptized. And it does seem on plain reading of scripture that they went down into
the water and were immersed. But let’s face it that many, many of them must often have been in
positions where there wasn’t the water to be immersed and they weren’t immersed and that didn’t
prevent them entering into all that God had given them.”
I think it’s important too to see that old Paul does mention in 1 Corinthians there a certain phrase
that indicates that there was some practice in New Testament times, of baptizing the whole family.
And you have it in 1 Corinthians 1:16, “I did baptize also the household of Stephanas.” And I don’t
think one can afford cynically to look at all us poor Lutherans and Methodists and say, “Oh now,
that doesn’t mean he baptized the children as well.” I think brothers and sisters that in that
early time they had to signify this family was going to be brought up as a Christian family. I
think that often the children were just included in the baptism. It wasn’t believed that they were
regenerated at that moment or that they had received the Spirit of Christ, but it was believed that
they would no longer be brought up as pagan children but as children under the covenant of Jesus,
and that later on they would enter into it by their own volition when they came to the age of
discretion.
And I think it’s important to see though the New Testament lays down broad lines, which really we
should follow as God gives us grace, yet we should not look down on dear ones who interpret it in
another way, because at the end of the day, all you’re talking about is how you’re going to cut the
flesh. And whatever you do to the body, you will not create an inner attitude to God in the heart.
It is just a sign.
Now maybe it would be good to look into the real meaning of baptism. So, could we just do that for
a few minutes for the rest of the time? Let’s go back to Jesus’ words when baptism is first
mentioned by him. It’s Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Now those of you that know
Greek know that the word in is really ‘eis’ ‘into’. And it means baptize them into the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Now what does it mean to be baptized ‘into’ the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit?
Well ‘eis’ obviously means that you enter into those three persons. That you are entering into them
by actual experience. Now, how do you do that? Do you send up a rocket with a man in it and send

him up to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? How do you enter into the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit? Now that’s what we’re really talking when we’re talking about baptism.
Brothers and sisters, baptism is not first a matter of water. Otherwise, Jesus would not have said,
“I have still a baptism to be baptized with.” Because he was not meaning water, he was meaning the
whole experience of Calvary. And again, and again, and again in the New Testament baptism is used
as different experiences not water.
Now, what do we mean when we mean to be baptized into the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? How are you
baptized into those three persons? Well God made it very plain to us in scripture with the use of
the word. Romans 6:3-5, this is how we are baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:3-5, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we
have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a
resurrection like his.”
You are baptized into Jesus’ death and burial and Jesus rises from the dead and takes you up with
him into his Father. And that’s how we are baptized into the Father and the Son. But it’s by being
willing to enter into Jesus’ death to himself. And it’s in view of that baptism into spiritual
experience of Jesus’ death, that God raises us into himself and then we are justified in being
baptized with water. But the outward baptism with water is a sign of the inward baptism into the
Father and the Son.
Now you may say, “Well, can you be baptized with water and not experience that?” Yes, you know you
can. It happened often. It happened for instance in Acts 19 if you’d like to look at it. Acts
19:1-4, some people were baptized with water and knew nothing of that baptism into Christ’s death.
And so they had the outward sign but they had not the inward reality, the inward baptism. Acts
19:1, “While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed though the upper country and came to Ephesus.
There he found some disciples. And he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you
believed?’ And they said, ‘No, we have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ And he said,
‘Into what then were you baptized?’ They said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ And Paul said, ‘John
baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come
after him, that is, Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Many of us have been baptized into the repentance of sins and we are good Jews. That’s it. We know
that our sins are forgiven but we have never been baptized into Christ’s death and so we have little
or no experience of victorious or pure life. We walk periodically in and out of obedience, because
we have been baptized into a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of our sins. And I know
brothers and sisters if I ask many of you do you believe you’re right with God? You would say,
“Yes, but I have great trouble because there are days when I live in continual defeat.”
Do you see that many of us have been baptized into repentance for forgiveness of our sins but we
have not been baptized into Jesus’ death? And so the outward sign signifies more than actually
exists in our own inward lives. What is the result of that? Well, many of us regard our lives as
the norm for the Christian life. And then you see you get into all kinds of problems. Then people
say, “Ah, well I was baptized so I must be a Christian, mustn’t I?” Well, you can only be as much
of a Christian as you believed for. You can only be as much of a Christian as you’ve been willing
for God to make you. But do you see what happens? We have some of us who are baptized with water,

yes by immersion, and do not enter into Christ’s death so we walk defeated Christians lives. But
everybody says, “Well, they have the outward sign, they must be Christians.”
Loved ones, the outward sign is only as meaningful as the inward experience is. And you see this is
where we brothers and sisters, get into all kinds of contortion over what a Christian is. If we
experienced a full baptism into Jesus as Christians, we would know there is only one kind of
Christian. That is, a Christian that has been baptized into Christ’s death and his burial, and has
been raised into the presence of the Father at his right hand.
Now there is the other part of the baptism, that of the Holy Spirit. And you see it there, it’s in
1 Corinthians 12:13. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body –
Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” And the second part of
baptism is being baptized ‘by’ the Holy Spirit, and being baptized ‘with’ the Holy Spirit. In other
words, when you enter into Christ’s death and his burial and rise with him in his resurrection, what
happened to him happens to you. The Holy Spirit anoints you with himself and brings to you the
purity and the power of Jesus’ life.
Now that is a whole Christian baptism. Now you see where we get into troubles, we try to divide the
thing up. We try to say, “Well, I can be baptized for the forgiveness of my sins without being
baptized into his death. Well, I can be baptized into his death without being baptized with the
Holy Spirit.” And then we get John arguing one side of it and Intervarsity arguing another and the
Baptist arguing another and the Pentecostals arguing another. Brothers and sisters, let’s stop
trying to justify ourselves. Let’s go to the Father and say, “Lord, I’ve been baptized, but I want
to enter into all that you have for me.”
Do you see brothers and sisters that it’s time we stop this business of saying, “No, you’re not a
Christian because you’re not baptized with the Holy Spirit,” or, “You’re not a Christian because you
aren’t walking in the victorious life.” Brothers and sisters, we should be encouraging each other
to enter into all that our baptism signifies, and stop this business of saying, “I’m here but I’m
not there.” We should be looking to the Father and saying, “Father, I know that baptism, whatever
mode it is, baptism means baptism into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It means baptism
into Jesus’ death, and into his burial, and into his resurrection at your right hand, and then it
means being baptized with your Holy Spirit. Father, I want all that you want me to have.”
But dear ones, that’s it. It’s not the outward sign that’s important. And loved ones, I say that
to you in love, the immersion party. I’m for it, I’m with you. I haven’t baptized an infant since I
came to the Campus Church and for a Methodist that is heresy. But do you see that it’s time for
love. It’s time for good sense. It’s time for stopping this arguing over a silly sign, because all
we’re doing is encouraging each other to be preoccupied with the external instead of with the
internal.
Now here’s what I’m asking you, have you been baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit? And I’m not saying you’re a second class citizen if you haven’t been but I’m saying have
you been baptized into Jesus’ death and into his burial? That is, have you been willing to die to
self with Jesus? To suffer all that he wants to suffer in your life, to face the kind of future
that he wants for your life? And have you been baptized into his resurrection so that at this
moment you dwell at the right hand of the Father far above all those petty little concerns that you
used to have? And have you been baptized with his Holy Spirit? And don’t you say, “Do you mean
have I spoken with tongues?” – don’t get into all that stuff. I’m asking you have you been willing

to obey the Holy Spirit fully in your life? Are you willing for the Holy Spirit to give you
whatever gifts, or whatever fruit that he wants to give you? Well, that’s what the Father wants.
Loved ones, could we get back to the simple gospel that the apostles preached, and stop trying to
divide the thing up and let’s see that outward baptism is a sign of a whole complete inward baptism
into Christ’s death, and resurrection, and into the Holy Spirit himself. And then you’ll begin to
really experience the victory and the power-filled witnessing life of a child of God.
So really, are you depending on the sign? Are you sitting there and saying, “I’m a Lutheran and I
was baptized as an infant so I must be there. I don’t feel I’m there and I have none of the marks
of being there, but I must be there.” And brothers and sisters, those of us who were immersed are
we saying, “Well, I immersed as a Baptist and I know that’s the one true gospel in the whole world
and I know that I must have everything. I don’t experience the fruit of the Spirit, I don’t
experience victory in my life, I can’t witness, I’m miserable in my home, but I was baptized and I
must be there.”
Loved ones, let’s forget that silly kind of argument, and let’s go to the Father and say, “Lord, I
want to experience all that you want me to experience.” And really loved ones, as we let down those
old silly defenses and stop straining and following our fathers and our forefathers down those
labyrinthine endless arguments, as we stop following out in that direction and begin to attend to
the inward reality, you’ll see that God will form his body into a unity and into a oneness that will
reveal him to the world.
Brother and sister, if you’re sitting there and it’s all new to you and all you know is, “Well, I’m
a Lutheran,” or, “I was confirmed.” Well, will you begin to ask? Or if you’re a miserable old
Methodist like me who was baptized as an infant and you don’t know exactly where you stand, will you
begin to ask the Father, “Father, show me have I really been baptized or have I just had an outward
sign?” And God will show you. As we attend to reality, he will reveal truth to us, so I pray he
will with you.
Some of you may want to talk afterwards or pray, and really we’ll be staying, some of us here, after
the service. And I would ask you as brothers and sisters, if you could sit in your seats until the
rest get out then you could come down to these front rows and just pray. And I’ll be glad to talk
or pray with you, my wife will, and some of the brothers and sisters will be here. And if we come
over to you and you just want to pray and we ask you do you want to talk or pray just you say what
you want you see. Don’t feel you have to talk to somebody. Just stay. But if you have some
feeling in your heart that you should get things straight, well this is a good place to do it. It’s
an easy place. Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for delivering us from the foolishness that we have walked in for so long all
concerned with outward signs and with churchy symbols. Father, we thank you for showing us that it
is the inward reality that counts, and all the signs in the world won’t create that inward reality.
So Father, we want to stand on that inward reality ourselves. And if we have not been baptized into
Jesus’ death and into his burial and his resurrection to your right hand, if we have not been
baptized with the Holy Spirit in the way that you want us to, Father, will you reveal that to us?
We will listen to you.
Lord, we won’t listen to any man; we won’t listen to churches; we won’t listen to groups who tell
us, “This is what to believe, or that.” We want to listen to you. You know our condition you are

able to tell us. But Father, we want to please you we want to be right with you inside in our
hearts. We trust you to bring us into that this day for your glory. Amen.